14 miles
On trail at 8, it was already warm. We did a steady 4 and then a quick jaunt down to the 3rd Gate water cache. It’s a whole setup! There are pallets of water jugs and custom-made recycling container and jug crusher. They even have a tip jar. How that doesn’t get stolen is beyond me, but glad to see it full. We walked back up to the trail and hung out for a bit in the shade. I greeted all of the hikers that came through and startled every one of them. To be fair, the brush along the trail can be thick. Walked until 1 when we found a perfect little shade spot so we parked there until 3:30. We are learning to heed the advice of not walking during the hottest parts of the day. It was nice sitting there, taking a siesta, eating some lunch, watching hummingbirds come and go. We started walking with the intention of stopping 2 miles short of Barrel Springs, but decided to press on to it so we could camp at a water source. Met another Jake at the campsite (trailname: Pacemaker). He was trying to return some sunglasses, but wasn’t having any luck finding their owner. Chatted with him a bit while we filtered water at the spring. Hearing lots of mice and bullfrogs tonight, also some horse-owners who seem to be camping or just hanging out at their truck/trailer.
PCT Hike 